Freezing Bell and HOT Peppers - WEAR GLOVES

If you remember a few weeks ago, I had a neighbor give me LOTS of peppers from their garden. 
 
They had rows of plants and I got over two large boxes of hot peppers. These Anaheim peppers are not as hot as jalapeno, habanero or chili peppers. 

They had given me some a few weeks prior and I froze them. In the few weeks I had used two of the three snack sized bags in my cooking.

I loved the flavor and the "heat" of the peppers as they are hot enough to give spice but not enough to make it unpleasant to eat. 

I saw them pulling out all of the plants from their garden and throwing them into the garbage cans. I asked if I could take the peppers and use what I wanted and share the others with friends. 

They had boxes of bell peppers and these Anaheim peppers. We used my cans to throw away the rest of the plants and I was grateful to help them in trade for the vegetables. 

Make sure when cutting any hot pepper that you protect your hands and clothes. First, coat your hands with olive oil. Then use unpowdered gloves and then some new cleaning gloves. 
 
The oil from the peppers and especially the seeds can burn your skin and eyes. Watch the video at the top where I share how my hands burned for days when I first did this as I didn't know to use gloves.  

Cut the peppers in half and remove the seeds after washing them. I used the knife to remove the seeds keeping my hands away from them as much as possible as the seeds are the hottest part. Cut off any "rotten" part as you can see the tip of the red pepper above was a bit off so I chopped it off and discarded it.


Chop them into small pieces and then freeze them into bags. I used the small snack sized bags as you don't need many to spice up a dish. Once they are in smaller bags, put them into larger bags. 
 
I bagged them in two or three bags as the smell of the pepper can make your freezer smell if not bagged well enough. I like the smaller snack bags so I can take one out and keep it in the fridge freezer and leave the rest in the deep freeze. 

Make sure you label the bags you put them in so no one will mistake them for sweet peppers. Even when taking them out of the bag to use in cooking, I use a fork to get the out so I don't touch them. I have forgotten in the past and touched my eyes and that isn't a good thing.


I used them in my stir-fry, my rice and curry. I am grateful for neighbors who did all the hard work since I am not the best gardener. I am blessed!